The UK's second-largest cinema chain hopes to recover from a "challenging" summer with a string of box-office hits due for release this autumn.

Cineworld, which has screens at Broad Street in Birmingham, and Solihull, hopes that blockbusters such as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace will draw film fans back to the cinema after the hot summer months.

The group, which operates 74 cinemas across the UK, today said total revenues for the first half of 2008 were up by 0.7% on the same period last year.

Cineworld has also managed to maintain its 23.6% market share, despite data released by the Film Distributors' Association indicating that UK cinema admissions are around 7% below last year's figures.

The company attributed its success to a "reasonably strong" release schedule in the first half of 2008, with films such as Sex and the City and The Incredible Hulk drawing in cinema-goers.

The group described the outlook for the remainder of 2008 as "encouraging", but acknowledged that it will be difficult to replicate the success of summer 2007, when several blockbusters were released.

Altium Securities analyst Greg Feehely said that while "a hot summer is not the ideal weather for cinema-going," Cineworld's film release schedule is strong and "this should drive a healthy outturn in admissions".

He added: "We do however remain mindful that a lengthy consumer downturn would negatively impact, and higher fuel costs could be deterring customers from travelling to out of town venues."